Number of tourists increased by 4.2% YoY in April 2019

Quick Update

Total number of visitors went up by 3.7% YoY in April. When excluding the impact of Turkey and Iran, total number of visitors would be 8.1% higher (see charts on the next page).

The same day trips went up by 5.0% while number of tourists grew at 4.2%.

Estimated tourism inflows increased by 5.0% YoY in April in USD terms. When expressed in EUR and GEL, growth of inflows stood at 14.8% and 16.6% YoY, respectively.

The number of visitors arriving by plane increased by 13.8% YoY. Such type of visitors have highest spending per visit and make up around 44% of total number of tourists. This indicates that the estimated growth of inflows could have been higher*.

Regional airports are gaining stronger foothold with number of arrivals increasing by solid 35.7% YoY in Kutaisi Airport and by 19.7% in Batumi Airport versus 11.0% for Tbilisi. Planned addition of flights to new destinations will support further expansion of tourism industry.

From the regions perspective, growth remained highest from the EU with 28.7%. Number of visitors from the CIS also went up by 11.0%, while visitors from other countries have decreased 9.8% YoY mostly reflecting the continued decline of visitors from Turkey (-7.6% YoY) and Iran (-59.4% YoY).